Agitated, the mutation charged blindly at Erik and Jay. Erik pushed the weakened Jay out of the way before he jumped aside, avoiding the sharp antlers of the monster. However, it used its remaining right arm to slam its forearm against Erik. He crashed into the fence and fell to the ground.
The monster targeted Erik, but switched its attention to Jay, who fired a round of icicles at its back. Those attacks managed to penetrate its skin, albeit shallowly. Jay chuckled stiffly, seeing the monster directing its hostility toward him. It hunched over, preparing to launch itself at Jay.
However, with blood covering his face, Erik was able to get up once more, swinging his ax at its feet and cutting off only the right one. The monster stumbled and fell face-first on the ground.
"Erik!" Jay shouted vigorously, blood spraying from his mouth. Gathering everything he had left, he ran toward the monster.
Erik looked into his friend's eyes, noticing what he had planned.
"You're crazy..." he remarked with a huff.
Before the monster was able to get up, Erik threw his ax at its upper arm, pinning it down for a few seconds. But those few seconds were more than enough.
Erik was standing right before the mutation's face, waiting for Jay to arrive there as well. He took a deep breath and crouched down a little. He readied his leg, as if preparing to kick. However, that kick was not aimed at the monster.
"Be gentle, okay?" Jay joked nervously as he finally caught up. With Erik standing beside him, Jay weakly lifted his leg, too.
"It's too late to say things like that, isn't it?" Erik scoffed with a grin.
The monster was about to move again, but it was too late for it. Jay's kick was about to hit the monster in the face. If the kick was strong enough and let the target feel pain, Jay's exclusive skill would get activated. In his current state, chances were very high that the kick would be too weak. However, that was why Erik was there.
Simultaneously, Erik swung his leg, too, aiming his kick at Jay's leg. Even though it would hurt Jay the most, Erik's kick would serve as the necessary boost to give Jay's attack enough power to actually damage the monster.
The attack landed, and the monster let out one final roar before its strength left its body. After all the struggle, it was finally motionless on the ground, only grumbling weakly. Jay folded immediately after the success and fell on his back, letting the rain sprinkle on his exhausted body.
Meanwhile, Erik picked up his weapon and raised it strenuously in the air. He took one last look at the helpless mutation. Erik and Jay had spent too much time just finding it, and in the end, it had needed a tough and struggling fight to finally slay it.
The ax's blade penetrated its head.
[Congratulations! You have cleared the quest!]
"I-is it finally over...?" one of the few remaining officers wondered, sounding both nervous and hopeful.
Scarlet, however, thought about something else. As someone who had already cleared the Tutorial Section, she knew that the quests there were easy for her. She should be able to clear all quests in that section within a few days. And yet, two people in the Tutorial Section had to face off against a monster that was obviously on the same level as monsters from far higher sections. From her perspective, it was impossible for them to be mere beginners.
"I get it..." she muttered, a creepy grin forming on her agitated face. After recalling every encounter with them, their behavior, and their display of their power, she was able to put the pieces together. Her eyes were especially focused on Erik, who was panting like crazy.
"Erik Wagner!" she shouted, her grin weak, but her tone confident. Scarlet was approaching him with large strides, as if she had the upper hand in that situation.
However, before she could confront him properly, the door behind her was slammed open.
"Guys!" Luna gasped in delight. Supported by Alice, she managed to reach the scene.
While she staggered toward them, Alice joined Scarlet.
"Didn't I order you all to retreat from here?" Alice asked politely, hiding her true feelings and emotions behind a smile.
Scarlet wanted to justify her actions. She wanted to say that she wanted to stay and watch them, confirming one of her suspicions among other things. But she kept her mouth shut.
"I apologize." Scarlet said sternly, fixing her posture and heading back with the other few officers.
Alice, who understood that Erik wanted to have as few people know about them as possible, tried her best to hide them from the public and her people.
"I suppose I will leave you alone for now." she giggled quietly, seeing Luna joining them joyfully.
Without looking back once more, Alice also left the rooftop.
"And? How was I?" Luna asked, puffing her chest out. Like a kid, she wanted them to praise her for her efforts.
"I admit, you did a great job." Erik sighed with a defeated smile. Sitting on the ground, he glanced at Jay, whose eyes were closed. It was still night, and the rain did not show any signs of stopping. Yet, the trio remained on the rooftop, right beside the mutation's corpse.
"I knew you'd come, Luna." Jay stated, his eyes still closed. He was too tired to open them, but he had enough energy left to utter some words to his comrades.
"So you did see my message! Don't leave me on read the next time, you hear me?!" Luna complained with a pouting face.
"Too much of a hassle..." he yawned. Instead of texting back, Jay chose to use Alice as their middleman. Before Luna rushed to the Rookie Dorms, she asked Jay where they were. Jay, in turn, did not reply with a message, wanting to test if she would really come on her own will. Although deep down, he knew that she would come without him or Erik saying it, he did not want to outright tell her to join them for that dangerous quest.
And if she had come without anyone telling her to, it would be proof of her resolve—proof that she had what it took to fight alongside them in a party.
"Anyways..." Jay began.
Erik also started to open his mouth, looking at her gently.
"Welcome to the team." both of them stated at the same time.
Hearing that, Luna's cheeks turned warmer, her eyes even tearing up a little.
"Y-you're crying...?" Erik remarked, baffled. He flailed with his hands randomly, trying to figure out how to cheer her up.
"I know that it's not a reason to cry, but..." Luna said, wiping off her tears with a wide smile on her face. For her, joining them meant that she finally achieved her first goal. Despite all the struggles and threats in the past few weeks, she could finally admit that everything was worth it. The suffering she had to endure was all so that she could now be an official member of the team.
Words could not possibly explain what she was going through, but her tears carried enough weight for Erik and Jay to understand. While Erik consoled Luna, caressing her back gently, Jay just smiled.
They remained like that until the support unit provided by Alice stormed the rooftop. Apparently, Alice ordered them to look after the trio, even though they were not affiliated with the police or the Kilgen Family. Luna was given a stamina potion, whereas both Erik and Jay were put on a stretcher after receiving healing potions as first-aid.
"Guys, now that we're a team, there's something I wanted to talk about." Luna said, as if she had just remembered again. Since she was not injured, she was able to walk on her own. Thus, she followed her two comrades as they were escorted by the supporting unit.
The two glanced at Luna, curious about what she was going to talk about.
"It's our name!" she declared, furrowing her eyebrows and raising her index finger, sounding like a scolding teacher.
"Our name...? What's wrong with it?" Erik was the first one to ask, oblivious to her intentions.
"[Erik and Jay]... Simple, isn't it?" Jay added, genuinely praising the name.
However, both their responses angered Luna further.
"Shouldn't we have, like, a cooler name, or something?!"
But her statement only caused the two others to tilt their heads in confusion.
"Something like [God's Lightning] or [Usurpers]. Heck, even [Team Starry Sky] sounds nice!" Luna said, giving a few cool-sounding suggestions and imagining what it would be like to be called like that.
"W-well, I guess there are some parties who try to act like a Conqueror Family and call themselves a family..." Erik pointed out, slightly taken aback by Luna's random name suggestions. Among Challengers, it was indeed popular to name their party similar to a Conqueror Family, like the Kilgen Family or the Nerkz Family.
"Hmm... So something like [The Wagner Family]?" Jay wondered.
"P-please not my name...!" Erik retorted, embarrassed by that suggestion.
While Jay kept teasing Erik, Luna was thinking. A team name should be something meaningful to everyone in the party and should not be too random. Therefore, her name suggestions would not make it. And since they did not know too much about each other, it was hard to find something everyone could feel connected to.
"Conqueror Family..." she muttered, still in thought.
"Do we have to choose a name now? The party's name can be changed any and every time the party members change, so how about postponing it for now?" Erik suggested, his cheeks slightly flushed.
"Who cares about the name? Let's just get done with it now. After all, we can use this opportunity to celebrate our first quest together!" Jay argued back with a chuckle.
"Then, if you really don't care about the name, how about..." Erik tried to retort.
But before he could say his suggestion, Luna—oblivious to the atmosphere—also opened her mouth to bluntly tell them about what she had come up with, leading to both of them saying the same thing at the same time.
"[The Jay Family]?"